What is the Product Business Lifestyle

So you have read the 4-Hour Workweek (4HWW) and have decided that the physical product business lifestyle is for you.
Maybe you’re learning about internet marketing, already have digital information products out there, and now want to get into something more tangible.
Or perhaps you have noticed a hole in the market place that you’ve got an item in your head for.

Right now, you have an idea in year head and a sketch on a napkin. That’s great and gets you a long way. But unless you’re making the component yourself, it’s difficult to get things manufactured from a napkin sketch. What materials, manufacturing methods, tolerances, and surface finishes does your product require?
Should it be cast, machined, stamped, or injection moulded?
How tight will the product be when at either end of the tolerance limits?
Will everything fit together all the time?
How can fatigue affect my product?
Where could it fail?
How do I reduce stress concentrations?

All of these questions are part of the product design process and answering them correctly requires specialized knowledge.

How to Find Help

The problem is: Full-time engineers and consultants are too expensive, students don’t usually have enough experience, engineering outsourcing companies are too big & vague, and blindly using Odesk contractors is too risky. You are just designing a small niche product (or muse in Tim Ferriss’ words), no need to mobilize an entire engineering department.
Get it designed, get a prototype, set-up a landing page, and start selling it.

This is what I am here to do. I am an engineer and designer by education and by profession, and, like many others, reading the 4HWW has made me unemployable. I don’t feel that spending my time to make an employer rich is a good use of my life. I’ve listened to the podcasts and been inspired to get into an internet business. Likely you have too and that is why you are here. However, I’m just not sure about this digital information product only thing. I am more comfortable designing, manufacturing, and selling physical products that fill a gap in the market. This website is my way of sharing my journey into the niche product business world. I cover how I leverage my knowledge to allow me to hire students, interns, and foreign design personnel to keep development costs low. I will also share tips on how to brainstorm for ideas, test your idea, make a prototype, figure out manufacturing, and where to turn for website design, marketing, ecommerce, and shipping.
Hint: you can do most of it yourself if you have the right resources.

Living the Product Business Lifestyle

Are you looking to replace enough of your income to allow you to escape the rat race, live in Thailand or Bali, and just work part-time to run your business?

Perhaps you like your job and you just want a second income to make your Lexus car payment, save up a downpayment for a house, or be less worried during times of economic turmoil?

Or maybe you want to build enough semi-passive income to support you and your family while you build up a brick-and-mortar business?

All are common and respectable goals that are attainable with a product business.